Johnny Robinson (safety)

Johnny Nolan Robinson (born September 9, 1938) is an American former professional football player. He was primarily a safety, but also played on offense as a halfback and flanker early in his career. He played college football for the LSU Tigers.

Robinson played his entire twelve-year professional career with the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL) and later the National Football League (NFL). He led the AFL in interceptions with ten in 1966, and led the NFL in 1970 with ten. He had 57 interceptions during his career. Robinson is a inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, becoming the ninth member of the Chiefs' Super Bowl IV championship team to be inducted.

Early life

Born in Delhi, Louisiana on September 9, 1938, Robinson was W. T. "Dub" Robinson and Mattie Robinson's second son. Robinson was an all-state football, tennis, and baseball player in high school. He became starting fullback in his freshman year at University High School, Louisiana State University's (LSU) laboratory school located on LSU's campus in Baton Rouge. He played in the 1956 Louisiana high school all-star football game, along with future college teammate Billy Cannon.

Robinson and his older brother, Tommy, won the national boys' junior tennis championship when they were at U-High, where Dub Robinson was the LSU tennis coach from 1948 to 1974. Tommy was the superior tennis player and was inducted into the Louisiana Tennis Hall of Fame in 2015.

In 2019, University High retired Robinson's football number 44.

College career

Robinson committed to play college football at LSU, in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), under head coach Paul Dietzel. From 1957 to 1959, he would become one of the greatest two-way players in team history. In his junior season,1958, the Tigers won all ten games in the regular season. Then, on January 1, 1959, they won the Sugar Bowl over Clemson 7–0 (making them 11-0), further winning the national championship. Billy Cannon, the 1958 Heisman Trophy winner, was also on that team. LSU went 9–2 in 1959, and again played in the Sugar Bowl, on January 1, 1960, losing to Ole Miss. Robinson had a fractured hand and did not carry the ball once in that game.

In 1958, Robinson earned first team All-SEC honors as a halfback, and in 1959, he was second team all-conference. Over his three-year LSU career, the team was 25–7, and Robinson had 893 rushing yards, 453 receiving yards, and 14 touchdowns. In a 1958 game against Tulane, Robison had four touchdowns in the second half, and United Press International named him Back Of The Week.

Also while at LSU, he won the 1958 SEC tennis championship in singles, and SEC doubles championship with his brother Tommy.

In 2019, Robinson was LSU's SEC Football Legend.

Professional career

In 1960, Robinson was selected by the Dallas Texans (who later became the Kansas City Chiefs) in the first round of the 1960 AFL draft, and selected third overall by the Detroit Lions in the 1960 NFL draft. In his third season, the Texans won the 1962 AFL title with a 20–17 double-overtime victory over the two-time defending AFL champion Houston Oilers in the longest professional football league championship game ever played. Robinson had two interceptions. The dramatic game was watched by millions on television, and played an important part in creating the grounds for an AFL-NFL merger.

Robinson played in the first Super Bowl in early 1967, a loss to the Green Bay Packers in which Robinson had 9 tackles. Three years later in Super Bowl IV, the underdog Chiefs decisively defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 23–7. Robinson played that game with three broken ribs he received in the previous game, and took novocaine injections to dull the pain for the Super Bowl. Late in the first half, he picked up a Minnesota fumble, and made an interception in the second half to help seal the win.

During his first two years in the AFL, Robinson played flanker on offense, rushing for 658 yards on 150 carries and had 1,228 receiving yards on 77 receptions, and fifteen touchdowns. Texans coach Hank Stram moved Robinson to safety after his second year and he continued as a standout for ten of his twelve years.

His last game came on Christmas Day 1971, when the Chiefs lost to the Miami Dolphins 24–27 after 22 minutes and forty seconds of overtime. Robinson suffered a career-ending injury that game, which remains the longest game in NFL history, as of 2024, and the last NFL game in Municipal Stadium. Robinson thus played in the sport's longest championship game in 1962 and in its absolute longest game, each game closing out professional football in its respective stadium.

After twelve seasons with the same franchise, Robinson retired at age 33 in July 1972, prior to training camp.

Legacy

Robinson was a seven-time first-team All-Pro and three-time second-team All-Pro selection. He is a member of the All-time All-AFL Team and one of only 20 players who were in the AFL for its entire ten-year existence. He is one of only three players (with hall of famers Jim Otto and Ron Mix) who were on the All-AFL first team and the combined AFL/NFL all decade team for the 1960s.

The Chiefs had a 35–1–1 record in games where Robinson made an interception. He is an inductee of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and was elected into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame in February , the ninth member inducted from the 1969 Chiefs; his bust at Canton was sculpted by Scott Myers. Later that year, he was recognized as an SEC Football Legend for LSU. He is also a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Career statistics

Personal and later life

After he retired as a player, Robinson was a scout for the Chiefs until Hank Stram was fired in 1974. He then coached defensive backs for the Jacksonville Express of the World Football League in 1975. The league folded that year, and he became a scout for the New Orleans Saints, again under Stram.

Robinson became an ordained minister in 1979. He founded and operates a youth home called Johnny Robinson's Boys Home for troubled boys in Monroe, Louisiana, and has been a long-time supporter of children's causes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Johnny
1938 births
American Conference Pro Bowl players
American Football League All-Star players
American Football League players
American football safeties
Dallas Texans (AFL) players
Kansas City Chiefs players
Living people
Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football coaches
Louisiana State University Laboratory School alumni
LSU Tigers football players
LSU Tigers tennis players
People from Delhi, Louisiana
Players of American football from Monroe, Louisiana
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees